Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1254250" data-attributes="member: 79">“I’ve been keeping an eye on the boy as you asked, Kaz-sama.”  The guard explained.  “Last night he was late showing up to guard duty, so I went to look for him.  I found he had climbed up a tree.  Near Mir’s tree house.  I have no doubt he was trying to peek in.  Probably luck for him I found him and not Mir.”  The guard said with only a faint smile.Kaz nods, less good naturedly about it “I’ll speak to him.”When the kid was brought to him, Kaz was doing his best to look stern and reproving.  “Kid, I’m not going to punish you, -this- time.  But I want you to know I’m pretty angry with you.  I don’t blame you for peeping on Mir.  But you neglected your duty and that’s something no true samurai ever does.  I know I carouse a lot.  I drink a lot.  But when it’s time for duty, I’m always right there.  Duty comes first.  Always.  If you want to stay around here, you’ll have to understand that.”The young ronin nodded seriously to everything Kaz said.  He had so dreaded all the things Kaz might do to punish him, it was a great relief he was not being sent away or anything equally dire his imagination had come up with.  When Kaz offered to show him around Ryoko Owari a little, to the sake houses it would be safe enough for the kid to visit, he was even happier.  The kid knew he’d never been the carouser or ladies man Kaz was, but he was determined to overcome his weakness in these areas.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On the 15th Day of the Tiger Verick invited Bayushi Sakura to the Celebration of Akodo at the Lion estates.  As a Scorpion, she probably would have been stopped at the gate.  Arriving as an Emerald Magistrate was a different matter, however.  After a fashion it was simply proof Verick was coming to terms with being married off to a Scorpion.  His sensei was pleased.The end of 1158 brought the usual ceremonies.  The temples and homes were cleaned out.  Straw ropes were put out to catch the evil spirits of the old year.  The New Year brought ceremonies to ask ancestors, fortunes and Kami to bless the New Year.  Traditionally, the Emperor was cloistered during this period, communing with the Sun God to ask for good fortune on the Empire.  The lack of an Emperor prevented that this year, surely a bad sign.Parades and fireworks celebrated the New Year all through the day.  But volar had darker things on his mind.  He was concerned about Bugaisha.  He had heard from Chen that the merchants in the area were not allowing his students to help with odd jobs like the merchants had allowed in the past.  Clearly something had changed to cause this.At the same time he had presented some very pointed questions to the people trying to hire him for this job.  Why did they trust him?  Because they were paying in gold, a reasonable answer for criminals.  Why did they think he could do this?  They knew many magic used could do this.   And they had seen Volar disappear from battles before, as when the group teleported out of the Crab Caves.Before he would give his final agreement to this job, Volar decided to consult with Toshiro, Kaz and Lord Jyaku.  It was a difficult situation.  The job could be smuggling, an assassination, helping someone escape, some trade deal trying to go around the normal rules about contact with gaijin, there were just too many options.Volar felt it was a trap for him.  Verick somehow felt it might be a trap for him.  Kaz and Toshiro leaned toward it being a plot against Shinjo Yuji.  Finally Volar agreed to act as bait, so to speak, and teleport the man to Bugaisha.  But not before much planning was done.  Volar would only meet the man through his rat familiar, not in person.  Mindra and the others would be under an invisibility sphere as they followed him to Bugaisha.  True Sight was cast on Mindra and Verick, the one’s considered most likely to be able to follow Volar’s passenger wherever his mission was taking him.  Volar’s passanger turned out to be a rather pleasant looking, portly man.  He had the look of a prosperous merchant rather than a smuggler.  The gold was paid for the first step of the teleport and in an instant the scene shifted to Bugaisha, to a secluded spot the teleport would not be noticed.The portly, pleasant fellow bowed “Thanks.  I’ll be back in an hour.  If I’m not, don’t wait on me.”  Then he set off down the street.  Invisibly the others followed, except for Volar was staying back at the teleport spot.  He was taking no chances that this might be seen as a set up by him.For once, Mindra and Verick struggled to keep up with the chubby merchant.  As the man went through the crowd he shifted from form to form flawlessly.  Only Toshiro’s luck and Kaz’s alertness kept them on the man’s trail.  Until he sucked into an alley by a merchant house.  Verick leading the way, they followed back there.  Verick at the corner, watching as the man’s disguise melted away to reveal a lean figure with a short, neat beard, longer hair and intense eyes.  He removed carefully wrapped weapons from his Haversack, katana, daggers, shuriken, a bladed gauntlet, and goggles for his eyes.Then the back door of the merchant house was kicked in and the black garbed figure charged in.  Verick used his own magic item to shift his appearance to a gray ninja and snuck over to peek in, watching as the assassin cut through several Broken Mirror ronin without any trouble, liberal use of poison making his job easier.  Kaz decided to hang back.  He had not really gotten any type of disguise for this.  Mindra was relying upon his amulet that let him look Rokugani.  Toshiro had been giving a headband of change by a mysterious admirer or friend.  He never got any details beyond it was a fat merchant.  He used this to make himself look like a ronin and he went around to the front of the shop.  The merchant house was new but the saleman was very skilled.  “And here’s the weapons.  Oh you want back hear at the back, where our armor is?  Well, this would suit you perfectly.  And this would be good for more ornate armor, for those times you need to look good for a client.”  The salesman was so good, Toshiro almost forgot about the battle in the back until thtree blood, nearly dead Broken Mirror ronin ran out from the back, fleeing out into the street.  As the salesman went to summon the guard, Toshiro charged into the back, changing into  a Broken Mirror ronin.Verick had followed the man up the stairs, losing track of him for a moment before he found the right room.  Listening, he heard “You picked the wrong people to steal 50,000 koku from, Sanzo.  Trying to run to Bugaisha was not a bad idea.  But even here you are not safe.  Make peace with your ancestors and….”The assassin’s spiel was cut off by Verick’s sudden entrance.  “My contract supercedes yours.” He told the assassin.  “Back off, you’ll only get hurt.”  The assassin replied before stepping toward the merchant.  Verick charged in, though, a fast slice of his sword wounding the assassin slightly.  A feint put him off guard though and the assassin did even more damage in return.  From down the hallway came the yell of Toshiro finding the caltrops left on the stairs.The merchant shouted out “15,000 koku if you kill him!” to Verick, then as Toshiro ran into the room under the guide of a Broken Mirror ronin, he hid behind Toshiro and promised “10,000 koku if you kill both of them!”Verick and Toshiro both angled in to try and cut off the assassin but he tumbled out of reach.  Realizing he would never beat the two of them, he got a running start to flip forward past the two men and over to the merchant.  A poisoned dagger put an end to the man and then the assassin fled for his life, disappearing onto the first floor as they group failed to pursue.  Instead, then regrouped, then teleported back to Volar.They could very likely have killed the assassin when he returned.  But by that point there would be no doubt Volar set the man up.  Wanting to avoid that, the others returned home with Mindra and Volar teleported the assassin back to Ryoko Owari, receiving the rest of his payment and leaving it at that.  Though Volar was less than pleased.  He’s been the transported for an illegal act once now.  He knew another offer would come along and he wasn’t looking forward to it at all.</blockquote>

Verification